Feeding and refuse separating apparatus for cotton ginning mechanism



w. G. 0055 Feb. 12, 1952 FEEDING AND REFUSE SEPARATING APPARATUS 2,585,301

FOR COTTON GINNING MECHANISM 2 Sl-iEETS-SHEET 1 Filed March 21, 1950 INVENTOR. 45 Willie G. D055 ATTORNEYS.

Feb. 12, w oss FEEDINGAND REFUSE SEPARATI APPARATUS FOR COTTON GINNING ME NISM Filed March 21, 1950 l 2 SI-IEETS--SHEET 2 i INVENTOR.

WIIIIe G. Doss ADI'TORNEYS.

patented Feb. 12, 1952 ES PATENT OFFICE 1 FEEDING mi REFUSE sEPAnA'riNG APPARATUS roa COTTON GINNING MEGHANISM v Willie G. floss Lubbock, Tex.

Application March 21, 1950,- Serial N0. 150,866

4 claims.

' This invention relates to feeding and refuse separating apparatus for cotton ginning mechaprovide apparatus of this character which is very efficient in the removal of foreign objects, such as rocks, nails, wire and other refuse from cotton in the seed or in the lint, as it passes through the pneumatic conveyor from conveyances, .such as wagons or trucks to the gin, for the purpose of preventing injury to the saws or ginning devices and to practically eliminate the origin of the large majority of all gin fires; to provide apparatus which maybe manufactured at a low cost, since mainly stock sizes of metal pipe and elbows may be utilized in the manufacture of the separating apparatus; and to provide apparatus which is automatic in clearing itself of the accumulation of refuse in a stem or receptacle embodied in it, as a result of operation of the usual or any approved type of over-flow valve.

It has been proposed in the past to provide apparatus for separation of heavy solids, by the force of gravity, from seed-cotton, cotton-seed and other relatively light material which is conveyed from place to place by air currents. Examples of such apparatus are shown in the patent to Anderson and Tompkins 773,180 granted October 25, 1904, and the patents to Broome 1,002,131 granted August 29, 1911, and 1,159,168 granted November 5, 1915. In these patents fair- 1y simple types of separator units of approximately'Y-shaped form are shown, intended to be interposd in the pneumatic elevators between the well known exterior feeding extremities thereof and the gins. In these constructions, the top walls of each of the upwardly and outwardly extending intake and discharge arms or conduits converge and unite at a point centrally above the stem of the Y-shaped formation of the separator, the stem providing a chamber for receiving the heavy solids which gravitate thereinto. As a result of actual reduction to practice of separators according to the teaching in these patents, I found that they lacked efliciency and I attribute this to the lack of creating a turbulence in the separator unless bailles are placed in the ways of the separator arms and/or stems which adds to the cost of manufactureand increases the weight of the units.

According to my invention I preferably arrange a relatively large intake conduit and a relatively smaller discharge conduit of the separater in substantially V-shaped formation with the discharge conduit communicating with the cent the two conduits.

intake conduit at the top wall of the latter, whereby light cotton carried by the current 'of air flowing through the apparatus will travel along the top wall of the intake conduit and into the discharge conduit due to a constriction ad-ja I also provide .a transverse wall at the lower end of the intake conduit below this juncture, against which heavier ma terial carried in the air current will impinge so as to effectively separate fibrous material from heavier substances, such as rocks, nails, wire and other solids permitting the latter to roll down or be deflected backwardly with respect to the direction of flow of the air current. I also locate a stem pipe providing a receptacle or con;- duit for the trash, open to the bottom wall of the intake conduit, well in advance of the juncture of the discharge conduit with the intake conduit, so that some of the trash will fall directly into this stem pipe without impinging against the transverse wall of the intake conduit. This arrangement creates a certain amount of turbulence in the apparatus at the zone adjacent the transverse wall and the juncture of. the in-' take and discharge conduits which aids in effectively separating the desired material for processing in the gin, from the refuse.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of my invention, taken, in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a ginnery with portions broken away and showing equipment according to the present invention, associated with the usual or any approved type of pneumatic conveyor.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged or detailed view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section showing the refuse separating apparatus interposed in the pneumatic conveyor.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus with a portion broken away and removed to COD- dense the view;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the apparatus providing means to regulate the amount of air which may enter the same, to create an auxiliary air current carrying with it light fibrous material which has dropped from the main current of air and return it to the latter;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional viewon "the line 5--.5 of Fig. 4. 1

Fig.- 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in elevation and partily in vertical section at an end of one of the conduits showing discharge of refuse material.

Fig. 7 is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section of an over-flow valve common in the art, but utilized in the present invention to also automatically discharge refuse from the stem pipe when a change over is made to feed the gin from material in the over-flow compartment of the ginnery instead of from vehicles or supplies outside the ginnery.

In the drawings, I have shown a typical ginnery 8 in which is located a gin or battery of gins 9, to which the material to be processed is delivered by a pneumatic conveyor ll) of any suitable type, such as that operated by a suction fan not shown in the drawing. The conveyor includes the well known exterior feeding conduit I l to take the seed or other cotton directly from a wagon, truck or other supply means, not shown in the drawing, which is placed in operative relation thereto, and an overflow valve l2 having communication with a delivery conduit [4 through which the material to be processed reaches the gin, and with an overflow conduit l5 terminating in an overflow compartment IS in the gin house. In practice, some of the material to be processed, passing through the delivery conduit, i directly acted upon in the gins, but an excess is usually supplied which is delivered to the overflow compartment. Thus, by manipulation of the overflow valve, the operator may draw from the outside supply while there is a wagon or truck, containing material, below the exterior feeding conduit II, and draw from the material in the overflow compartment, while the empty conveyance is moving away from the conduit I I and a fresh supply in a conveyance is being moved into place to be subsequently drawn upon.

In the example shown, the overflow valve I2 is of conventional type, including a valve proper l8, of blade form, which may be swung about an axis I! by levers 20 and 2| and appropriate pull cables 22 and 23, trained about pulleys 24 and 25, respectively, in the well known manner. The valve proper I8 is adapted to open and close ways in nipples 26 and 21 communicating with the feeding conduit II and the overflow conduit l5, respectively.

I interpose a separator 29 in the pneumatic conveyor l0 between the feeding conduit H and the overflow valve I 2 at the nipple 26 thereof. This separator comprises, in the example shown, a hollow main body 30, elbows 3| and 32 and a refuse conduit 33, connected to the body 38, a trap door 34 at the free end of the conduit 33, means 35 associated with the trap door to normally retain it closed, when there is no load upon it, and means 36 associated with the refuse conduit 33 constructed and arranged to permit a regulated quantity of air to enter the same, by suction, when the pneumatic conveyor is operating.

The body 30 comprises an intake pipe or conduit 3'! and a discharge pipe or conduit 38 arranged in substantially V-shaped formation, so that they may appropriately be termed arm conduits, and a stem pipe or refuse conduit section 39 connected to the conduit 31. An important feature of the invention is to provide a transverse wall 49 at the lower end of the intake pipe or conduit 31, to connect the discharge pipe or conduit 38 to the top wall of pipe or conduit 31 above the wall 40, and to connect the stem pipe 'or refuse conduit section 39 to the lower wall of the intake pipe or conduit 31 as clearly shown in Fig. 2. I have also found it desirable to make the intake pipe or conduit 31 relatively larger in diameter than the diameter of discharge pipe or conduit 38 (suitable diameters which I have found practical in one example being 15 inches and 13 inches respectively), and to make the stem pipe or refuse conduit section 39 of a diameter relatively smaller than the diameter of discharge pipe or conduit 38 (suitable diameter which I have found practical for the pipe or section 39 being eight inches).

The elbow 3| connects the intake pipe or conduit 31 to the feeding conduit H and the elbow 32 connects the discharge pipe or conduit 38 with the overflow valve 12 as previously described. The elbow 3| may be of the reducing type, since it has been found desirable to make the intake pipe or conduit 31 of a diameter greater than the diameter of the feeding conduit II.

A relatively long refuse conduit 33 is shown in the drawings, connected to the stem pipe or refuse conduit section 39, since it is desirable to deliver the trash separated from the material while in separator 29, to the outside of the ginnery, but it is to be understood that the trap door 34 may be disposed at the lower end of the pipe or section 39 without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The trap door 34 i pivotally supported to swing about a horizontal axis 42, and to seat upwardly against the under surface of a valve seat 43 of ring-like formation.

The means 35, in the example shown, comprises a lever arm 44 extending laterally from the door 34 adjacent the axis 42, and a weight 45 adjustable along the lever arm 44 as by screws 46, threaded in the weight, with their heads slidable in a slot 41 extending longitudinally of the lever arm. By this arrangement or any suitable means, the trap door 34 will normally assume a closed position due to the weight and partial vacuum in the refuse conduit 33 will assist in keeping it closed when the pneumatic conveyor is operating and the overflow valve I2 is set to draw material through the feeding conduit II. The weight 45 may be adjusted along the lever arm 44 to the proper position to maintain the trap door closed, assisted by the partial vacuum in the refuse conduit 33, as above explained, even though there may be refuse material of considerable weight upon the trap door. However when this partial vacuum is broken, by manipulation of the overflow valve to draw material through the overflow conduit l5, instead of through the feeding conduit l I, the refuse matter upon the trap door will over balance the influence of the weight and the refuse matter will be discharged from the conduit 'that, in the example shown the relatively smaller discharge pipe or conduit 38 communicating with the relatively larger intake pipe or conduit 31 78' causes the light cotton to float in the air current closely adjacent the top wall of the latter, and the rocks and other elements of high specific gravity to fall upon the bottom wall thereof and enter the refuse conduit section 39, or, if momentum carries some of the heavier material past the upper opening or" the refuse conduit section, such heavier material will strike the transverse wall it and roll back into the section 39.

By adjusting the band 5!, the operator can create just suificient updraft in the refuse conduit section 39 to carry or pick up cotton which may have entered the latter and return it to be entrained in the main current or" air flowing through the pipes or conduits 31 and 33, and yet keep the trap door closed even though there may be considerable trash thereupon, until the overflow valve 12 is set to draw upon the material in the overflow compartment, as previously described.

I claim:

1. In a device for use in a pneumatic conveyor and for separating refuse from seed cotton and similar relatively light material moved by the conveyor, a hollow body comprising a stern conduit, intake and discharge arm conduits in communication with one another and extending upwardly and outwardly in substantially V-shaped form, said stein conduit communicating with said intake arin conduit at its bottom wall wholly in advance of said discharge conduit, a regulateble air intake means associated with said stein conduit, an overflow valve in the discharge conduit beyond the separator operable to discharge surplus quantities of cotton passing therethrough, and a trap door on the lower end of said stem conduit held closed by suction in the conduits heading through the separator, but,automatically operable to discharge reiuse from the stem conduit when the overflow valve is operated to discharge the surplus quantities of cotton.

2. In a device for use in a pneumatic conveyor and for separating refuse from seed cotton and similar relatively light material moved by the conveyor, a hollow body comprising a relatively large intake pipe disposed in a downwardly inclined position with respect to the direction of fiow of material, a relatively smaller discharge pipe connected with the upper wall of the intake pipe and disposed in anupwardly inclined position with respect to the direction of fiow of material in substantially V-shaped formation with respect to each other, and a stem pipe connected with and depending from the bottom wall of said intake pipe, and a transverse wall closing the lower end of the intake pipe adjacent to the connections of the discharge and stem pipes with the intake pipe, providing a baiile between the stem and discharge pipes.

3. In a device for use in a penumatic conveyor for separating refuse from seed cotton and similar relatively light material moved by the conveyor, a hollow body comprising an intake pipe disposed in a downwardly inclined position with respect to the direction of flow of material, a discharge pipe disposed in an upwardly inclined position with respect to the direction of flow of material, said intake and discharge pipes arranged in substantially V-shaped formation with the discharge pipe connected to the top wall of the intake pipe, a stern pipe depending from the bottom wall of said intake pipe, and a transverse wall closing the lower end of the intake pipe adjacent to the connections of the discharge and stem pipes with the intake pipe, providing a baiiie between the stem and discharge pipes. i

In a device for use in a pneumatic conveyor and for separating refuse from seed cotton and similar relatively light material moved by the conveyor, a hollow body comprising an intake pipe disposed in a downwardly inclined position with respect to the direction of fiow of material, a discharge pipe disposed in an upwardly inclined position with respect to the direction of flow of material, said intake and discharge pipes arranged in substantially v-shaped formation with the discharge pipe connected to the top wall of the intake pipe, a stem pipe depending from the bottom wall of said intake pipe, a transverse wall closing the lower end of the intake pipe adjacent to the connections of the discharge and stem pipes with the intake pipe, providing a baffle between the stem and discharge pipes, an adjustable air intake valve in said stern pipe below said intake pipe hollow body, and a trap door on the lower end of said stem pipe operable to open for removal of accumulations of refuse thereon.

WILLIE G. DOS-S.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 773,180 Anderson et a1. Oct. 25, 190% 1,002,131 Broome Aug. 29, 1911 1,196,117 Kiefer Aug. 29, 1916 2,137,512 Steinhauer Nov. 22, 1938 2,262,326 Lawrence Nov. 11, 1941 

